If He Builds It, Will They Come?

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Reynaldo Rios, seen here by the site where he plans to build a landing strip
for UFOs, says aliens have been communicating with him since he was 13 years
old, when they cured a back injury. (AP)


Fast Fact

Puerto Rico is already known for the Arecibo Observatory and its 1,000-foot
parabolic receiver — shown in the Jodi Foster film "Contact" — that astronomers
really do use to search for extraterrestrial life.

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(AP) People in this sleepy hamlet are so sure they have been receiving
otherworldly visitors, they want to build a UFO landing strip to welcome them.

A bright green sign along a lonely country road in southwestern Puerto Rico
proudly displays a silhouette of a flying saucer and two words:
"Extraterrestrial Route."

Most Puerto Ricans laughed when a horse farmer installed the sign on his
property at the request of Reynaldo Rios, a local elementary school teacher who
says he's been communicating with alien visitors to this U.S. territory since he
was a child.

Rios, a 39-year-old with a goatee and a shock of dark hair, won't be ignored.
With the blessing of a local government desperate for tourist dollars, he's
dedicated himself to building the UFO landing strip.

"I can't say exactly when they will come, but I know it will happen," Rios said.
"I want to keep believing in my dreams."

Lajas Mayor Marcos Irizarry's support for the idea has provoked outrage among
islanders who complained it would be a waste of money at a time when the
government is encouraging thousands of employees to shorten their work week to
cope with a staggering fiscal deficit.

"What nonsense," said Luis Arocho, 47, sipping coffee with friends in a cafe in
historic Old San Juan. "This country is in crisis, and since politicians are
incapable of creating jobs, they create fantasies."

Irizarry quickly clarified that his municipal government would not invest in the
project. Instead, he has promised to help Rios get the proper building permits.

The mayor insists his goal is to attract tourists to his small town.

But he is also among Lajans who believe they have seen UFOs in the area.

"It's a very mysterious place," said Irizarry, who says he once saw red lights
zigzagging above the hills. "A lot of people have seen things."

Francisco Negron, the farmer who put up the sign and allows UFO watchers to
gather at his ranch, volunteered his property for the landing strip. He and Rios
estimate the project could cost up to US$100,000 and are looking for funds from
private companies.

Negron, a soft-spoken grandfather, has already applied for a permit to build a
road to Indian Hill, the chosen site for the strip. Negron and others believe a
UFO crashed on the hill in 1997. They claim they heard a boom and saw the hill
go up in flames.

Rios, who leads a group called "UFO International" that holds nighttime vigils
to search for signs of alien life, lets Negron worry about details like
investment costs and permits while he envisions the design. The landing strip
would be 80-feet long and have pyramids as control towers because aliens are
attracted to the shape.

The mayor hopes that UFO enthusiasts will flock to Lajas as they have to
Roswell, New Mexico, the site of a supposed UFO crash in the 1940s. Hundreds of
visitors have already come to check out the Extraterrestrial Route since the
sign went up, Irizarry said.

Puerto Rico is already known for its Arecibo Observatory and its 1,000-foot
parabolic receiver that astronomers really do use to search for extraterrestrial
life. The huge dish, in northern Puerto Rico, made a cameo appearance in the
1997 film "Contact," starring Jodi Foster as an astronomer who picks up a signal
from extratraterrestrials.

But it's a little-known aerostat off the Extraterrestrial Route that inspires
UFO lore in Lajas. The U.S. military uses the aerostat, a tethered blimp with a
radar system, to detect low-flying drug smuggling planes.

But many Lajans don't believe that. Even Irizarry has suggested that the
aerostat's true purpose is to detect UFOs.

A paved road leading to the blimp curves out of sight between two hills. Two
signs warn against trespassing. Rios claims he was once briefly detained while
trying to see the aerostat.

The school teacher says he first encountered aliens at 13. He says white lights
burst into his bedroom, entered his body and cured him of a back injury he had
received during a basketball game.

In Lajas, people who have grown up hearing reports of UFO sightings seem more
open to his scheme.
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